Heartland: Working with fur

Monday

Jan 31, 2011 at 12:01 AMJan 31, 2011 at 2:35 PM

Jeff Broms' job either elicits squeals of delight or sneers of disgust. As a furrier, Broms knows women will either beg to slip on one of his luxurious fur coats - or they'd rather die. And while many know of Broms Furs and Fashions at the Metro Centre - a Peoria fixture since 1949 - perhaps few know that Broms actually creates many of the coats he sells, a rarity in this day and age.

Broms started at age 4, helping his father by nailing pelts to a board.

JENNIFER DAVIS

Jeff Broms' job either elicits squeals of delight or sneers of disgust. As a furrier, Broms knows women will either beg to slip on one of his luxurious fur coats - or they'd rather die. And while many know of Broms Furs and Fashions at the Metro Centre - a Peoria fixture since 1949 - perhaps few know that Broms actually creates many of the coats he sells, a rarity in this day and age.

Broms started at age 4, helping his father by nailing pelts to a board.

"He would start at the top, and I would finish it. I would have four or five (skins) on a board. I didn't know I was working." says Broms, adding that the fur hammer "looked like a kid's hammer" and the nails were a bit bigger than straight pins.

"I loved hanging out with my father."

Lee Broms was 16, living in Minneapolis, when he dropped out of high school to focus on his boxing career.

"He was a Golden Glove champion for, I think, four years," recalls Jeff. But Lee Broms also started working as a runner for a furrier.

"Minneapolis back then was a mecca for furriers. After about a year, he was taught to sew Persian lamb, the easiest skin to learn on."

By age 21, Lee Broms was featured in a national fur trade publication for his impeccable work, Jeff says. At 27, Lee Broms moved to Peoria when Bergner's advertised it was looking for someone to run the fur department here. Soon after, however, he struck out on his own, buying Fern's Fur Shop, 404 Fulton St., from Simon Fern in 1949.

"When my father was working, we had seven furriers in Peoria alone. That was in the days when everybody wore fur," says Jeff Broms.

Today, according to the International Fur Trade Federation, there are more than 100 manufacturers of fur garments in the U.S. and nearly 1,400 retailers. Broms is both.

"I'm the only furrier in at least a 150-mile radius," says Broms, who still uses the sewing machines that his father worked on in the 1940s.

The work starts at the auctions. Broms recalls flying to New York as a teenager and Bradley University student to learn how to buy pelts. "I was taught, you buy what you like. If you have to think about it, move on."

The auctions started Dec. 30, but Broms, who now relies on trusted buyers, never buys at the first auction. "You don't put out your best stuff at the first auction."

Prices range at auction depending on the type of fur and supply and demand. For instance, a single lynx skin can run $2,000. For perspective, the average coat uses 40 skins. Broms says his often use more.

Once he purchases a bundle of raw skins, they will last five or six years before he has to do anything with them. Styles change, so unless he has pending orders, he may wait. Unless, of course, he's inspired.

He recalls the first sheared mink coat he made several years ago.

"I saw the idea and said, 'I can do this,' I made two. And they were reversible."

They weren't even officially out on the sales floor but once spotted "it was like church. Everyone was like, 'Oh my God. Oh my God.'"

His inventory is worth an estimated $2 million wholesale, he says, noting that he has coats that range from $1,000 up to $169,000.

"Last year was a banner year for me. I made 162 coats. When you have a pattern, it's easy. I would have eight boards going at a time."

In years past, particularly the 1980s, fake fur was all the rage. But Broms says real fur is coming back into vogue.

"I have as many customers in their 30s as I do in their 70s. The younger public is into furs so I see a larger market."

If properly stored - something Broms can do in his special climate-controlled vault - a fur coat will last for decades. "I've got customers' coats in the vault that my father sold them 61 years ago."

Jeff Broms creates, cleans, restores and revamps all things fur - a craft he is proud to carry on.

"I'd rather make a coat for a customer than have them buy something off the rack. My goal is that I want everyone else to be happy. When a woman tries on one of my coats and smiles, I'm excited - because that's the best advertising I could get.

"People are coming into this, but they're not coming into it to learn the craft. They want to learn the business ... I will never give this up. I will keep this as a legacy to my father."

Jennifer Davis can be reached at 686-3249 or jdavis@pjstar.com.

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